Arrow fletching jig



April 3, 1962 G. R. BLEASE ARROW FLETCHING JIG 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 25, 1959 INVENTOR. 62mm BLEASE.

A ril 3, 1962 G. R. BLEASE 3,028,158

ARROW FLETCHING JIG Filed NOV. 25, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

E. 45 4 G EORGEBLEAS "tent 3,028,158 Patented Apr. 3, 1962 Free 3,028,158 ARROW FLETCHING .IIG George R. Biease, 3708 Lyon Ave., Oakland, Calif. Filed Nov. 25, 1959, Ser. No. 855,403 2 Claims. (Cl. 269-38) My present invention relates to archery and more particularly to an assembly jig by which the fletching of an arrow is accomplished in a novel manner.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a jig for fletching arrows by which the feather may be secured to the shaft of an arrow in spiral relation with the axis of the shaft and in which the spiraling of the feather may be secured in either right or left hand spiraling relation with respect to the axis of the arrow.

A further object of the invention is to provide an arrow shaft centering chuck or holding clamp by which the shaft of the arrow will be accurately and centrally positioned in the jig with respect to the movable feather mounting means employed.

Other objects and advantages will be in part evident to those skilled in the art and in part pointed out hereinafter in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein there is shown by way of illustration and not of limitation a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing FIGURE 1, a side View showing of my fletching jig with the nock end of an arrow positioned therein as when being fietched,

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary view, partly in section, showing a detail of construction,

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of FIGURE 2, looking in direction of arrows,

FIGURE 4 is an end view of the detail shown in FIG- URES 2 and 3 with the parts positioned for the withdrawal of a fietched arrow,

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary view showing the shaft centering means employed at the nock end of the arrow shaft,

FIGURE 6 is a side view showing one of the feathermounting clamps employed with my jig,

FIGURE 7 is an end view of the clamp shown in FIG- URE 6,

FIGURE 8 is a top view of a clamp as shown in FIG- URE 6,

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line IXIX of FIGURE 1, looking in direction of arrows,

FIGURE 10 is a side view of another form of clamp, and

FIGURE 11 is a sectional view of the clamp shown in FIGURE 10.

Reference is now made to the accompanying drawings wherein the num'beral 10 designates generally a feather fietching clamp that is to be described in more detail hereinafter. The jig proper includes a bracket 11 that is generally secured upon a supporting surface of work bench by means of screws 12. This bracket 11 has two spaced head supporting flanges 13 and 14 upon which a leading head 15 and a trailing head 16 are respectively mounted to rotate about the axis of an arrow. The heads 15 and 16 are held in cooperating relation by stay rods 17, shown in FIGURE 1 as broken away to reveal the encompassing portion of an arrow shaft 18. The arrow shaft 18 is shown as extending through the heads 15 and 16 where its nock is engaged by a nock centering plate 19 carried by the trailing head 16. In this mounting the head 15 is shown as having a cylindrical extension 20 and the trailing head 16 has a somewhat similar cylindrical extension. These extensions 20 and 21 upon the heads 15 and 16 extend through round opening in the flanges 14 and 15 and with the stay rods 17 properly adjusted the heads 15 and 16 may be said to be clamped for rotation upon the bracket 11 and about the axis of the arrow shaft 18. The inclination of the arrow shaft 18, as here shown is to position the relatively long arrow out of interfering relation with other adjacent work upon the bench to which the bracket 11 is secured.

As here shown the feather clamp 10 has one blade that is longer than the other and when in use this longer blade is adapted to slideably fit into on or the other of two slots 22 and 23 which are cut respectively in the heads 15 and 16 with each slot 22 in alignment with a slot 23 at the opposite side of a longitudinal plane extending centrally through the axis of the arrow shaft .18. As a means for securing the arrow shaft 18 upon the jig for a fletching I provide as shown in FIGURES 2, 3, and 4 of the drawings a chuck means which includes a circular plate 24 that is mounted upon the head 15 so as to slide along two spaced outwardly extending studs 25 and at the sides of one of these spaced studs 25 there is pivotally mounted as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4 of the drawings two half circular wings 26 which have ,pluglike extensions 27 that are adapted and arranged to be projected into a circular opening 28 in the head 15. At this point it should be stated that the circular opening 28 is of a sufficient diameter to permit the withdrawal of a fietched arrow when the wings 26 are hinged outwardly as shown in FIGURE 4.

In FIGURE 5 of the drawings the trailing head 16 with its cylindrical extension 21 is shown as slideably supporting a nock engaging plate 19 that is adjustable axially and is secured by a set screw 29 in diiferent positions which will determine the position of the fietching upon the arrow with reference to the nock carried thereby.

Reference is now made in FIGURES 6, 7, and 8 of the drawings for a more detailed description of the feather clamp 10 which as here shown consists of two substan tially similar platelike members 30 and 31, the latter of which is somewhat longer than the plate 30 that as hereinbefore pointed out is adapted at its ends to slideably engage the spaced slots 22 and 23 respectively carried by the leading head 15 and the trailing head 16. The spaced plates 30 and 31 are pivotally related to each other by three spherical balls or bearings 32 that are located in alignment along the outer limits of these blades to form a hinge-like or pivotal mounting with the ball bearings 32 seated in opposed holes in the plates 30 and 31 that are of slightly smaller diameter than the diameter of these ball bearings. To complete this assembly, the plates 30 and 31 are clamped together and over the ball bearings 32 by means of spring clips 33, which as here shown extend over the line along which these balls 32 are centered. When a feather with a stripped portion of its quill, here designated by the numeral 34, is positioned and held by the feather clamp 10 the quill will be exposed so as to engage with the shaft 18 of the arrow. With the quill 34 of the feather coated with a suitable adhesive and in this position the clamp is secured upon the jig, as shown in FIGURE 9 of the drawings, Where it will be held by set screws 35 that operate in the slots 22 and 23. Then when the adhesive ha set the clamps, here three in number, may be operated to release the feather as they are removed from the jig. The fietched arrow can then be withdrawn through the opening 28 in the leading head 15. In this particular showing it is important to note that the longer plate 31 of the feather holding clip 10 is provided with a handle portion 36 in coplanar relation to the plate portion thereof, whereas the handle portion 37 of the plate 30 is angled with respect to its plate portion to provide a handle 37. With this arrangement it will be seen that the feather clamp 10 can be applied and removed from the fletching feather in a convenient manner. At the same time with the plate 31 formed in this manner with its extending ends in the off-center slots 22 and 23 located at one or the other side of the axis of the arrow shaft a fletching of the arrow may be accomplished with either a right or a left hand spiral without a turning of the feather clamp end for end as would be required if the clamp plate 31 were ofiset at its ends.

Reference is now made to FIGURES l0 and 11 of the drawings, wherein there is shown a modified form of centering chuck for the arrow shaft 18. In this instance, the shaft 18 of the arrow is centered by three radially extending pins rather than the two opposed clamping plates as in the case of the chuck shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 of the drawings, In this arrangement the leading head of the jig here designated by the numeral 38, is mounted in the forward flange 13 of the bracket 11 by a projecting annular portion 39. Formed in the annular portion 39 there are three spring accommodating sockets 40 which are open at the bottom to accommodate three radially movable pins 41 that have heads 42 at their outer ends under which compression springs 43 are positioned to bias these pins outwardly from the arrow shaft 18. Disposed over the pins 41 there is a hexagonal cap 44 which is rotatably held against the flange 13 of the bracket 11 by means of cap screws 45 that extend through arcuate slots 46 forming the outer face thereof. As is more clearly shown in FIG. 11 the hexagonal cap 44 is pro vided with three excentrically milled-out portion 46 that form cam like surfaces which will permit the pins 41 to move outwardly under the influence of the springs 43 when the hexagonal cap 44 is rotated in either direction as here viewed. By a reverse rotation of the cap 44 the pins 41 will be brought into clamping relation upon the arrow shaft 18.

While I have, for the sake of clearness and in order to disclose my invention so that the same can be readily understood, described and illustrated a specific form and arrangement, I desire to have it understood that this invention is not limited to the specific form disclosed, but may be embodied in other Ways that will suggest themselves to persons skilled in the art. For example, while I have shown my jig as adapted to the use of only three feather mounting clamps 10 it will be understood that the heads 15 and 16 may be provided with four sets of the slots 22 and 23 so as to accommodate four of the clamps 10 and in such an arrangement a fletching of four feathers may be applied to the shaft 18 in the same manner as proposed above. It is believed that this invention is new and all such changes as come within the scope of the appended claims are to be considered as part of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an arrow fletching device, the combination of a head supporting bracket, a leading head having an arrow shaft centering chuck, a trailing head having an adjustable nock centering blade, a feather mounting clip having substantially parallel feather clamping cheeks of unequal length, said leading and trailing heads having spaced slots for the reception of the longer check of said feather mounting clip, said spaced slots being in pairs one of each pair in alignment with an opposite slot of the other pair and spaced from and on opposite side of a radial plane passing longitudinally through the center of an arrow shaft when centered by the shaft centering chuck and the mock centering blade, whereby the feather mounting clip will be disposed at an angle to the axis of the arrow shaft when placed in the aligned slots of said leading and trailing heads.

2. An arrow fietching device of the type called for by claim 1, characterized by the fact that the leading shaft centering chuck is of exterior hexagonal configuration with its clip positioning slots cut centrally in three equally spaced faces thereof and having a central opening through which the arrow shaft may be withdrawn after fletching, and an arrow shaft engaging member having two hinged and cooperating halves which when closed upon the shaft of an arrow form a plug like member which when moved axially into the central opening of said chuck will center and hold said shaft firmly against both axial and radial movement during the fletching operation.

References Qited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Thompson Dec. 22,1959 

